Post-conflict initiatives and the exclusion of conflict-affected young people in northern Uganda

Abstract

Young people are among the most severely impacted by conflict and as such many post-conflict initiatives are aimed at assisting them. Yet the impacts of these initiatives on young people's ability to successfully overcome the adversity they faced during conflict are not fully understood. This paper attempts to examine these impacts by conceptualising post-conflict initiatives as enmeshed within young people's social environments. It argues that post-conflict initiatives are intimately connected to broader processes of exclusion from social systems such as the family. While these systems had previously served to protect young people against adversity, conflict and post-conflict initiatives have disrupted their ability to continue this mission. In particular, the structure and function of the family system are examined to demonstrate the types of disruptions that have taken place that have ultimately negatively impacted the landscape in which young people develop.

Youth transitions in protracted crises: conceptualising the ‘rupture’ of refugees' pathways to adulthood in Uganda and Jordan

“…Despite the new emergent theorising around youth's position within their own transition journeys, situations of crisis conditions have rarely been discussed (for a recent exception on internally displaced youth in Uganda, see Oosterom et al, 2021), and have been particularly neglected where crisis results in migration across borders (Dixon, 2021).…”

“…However, the country experiences high poverty levels, impacting on living conditions and placing pressure on resources and services (Hovil and Gidron, 2018; Al‐Husban & Adams, 2016). A history of conflict in Northern Uganda between 1986 and 2006, particularly between the rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army and the Government of Uganda, contributed to extreme poverty in the region and conflict impacts on youth, including their social relations, education, employment, and marriage practices (Dixon, 2021; Nutte et al, 2017; Oosterom et al, 2021; Schlecht et al, 2013). In Jordan, contrastingly, there have been a number of waves of refugees, with each one governed by tailored policies and differently able to access services and institutions.…”